Emma Watson hasn’t graced the silver screen in six years, leaving fans to wonder about her future in Hollywood. Yet, the beloved actress recently hinted she’s not leaving the world of entertainment for good. Instead, she’s finding new ways to tell stories, just not always in front of the camera.
Speaking to Hollywood Authentic in September 2025, Watson reflected on her unique path to fame. "In a way, I really hit the jackpot with acting," she shared. "What happened to me is quite rare." However, the star quickly pointed out a major downside. "A bigger part than the actual work is promoting and selling that art," she explained. "The balance can get really out of whack." She was direct about her feelings: "I don’t miss selling things. I found it pretty demoralizing."
Watson’s last film role was Meg March in Little Women (2019). Before that, she became a household name at just 11 years old. She played Hermione Granger in all eight Harry Potter movies from 2001 to 2011. After finding fame so young, Watson went on to get a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Brown University in 2014.
"But I truly miss using my skills, and I really miss the art," Watson continued in the interview. "I realized I did very little of the part I actually enjoyed." She explained that when you arrive on a film set, there’s not much time to rehearse. "But the moment you can talk about a scene, or when I was preparing and thinking about how I wanted to do something," she said. "And then, when the camera starts rolling, and you manage to completely forget everything else except that instant, it’s an incredibly intense form of meditation."
Want to know more about Watson’s acting break and what she’s doing now? Keep reading.
Is Emma Watson Still Acting?
Even though she’s lived largely away from the public eye lately, Watson doesn’t see herself as retired. "I don’t view myself as someone who has stopped acting," she told British Vogue in January 2024. "I just see myself wanting to broaden what I do and being able to be in things that I’ve written, directed, or produced."
Watson is currently pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing at Oxford University. On top of her studies, she’s been exploring other parts of the film industry from behind the scenes. "I’ve been directing! And writing! It’s been truly amazing," she revealed. "It started during COVID, and I realized how much I loved it and wanted to keep doing it. That’s why I’m actually studying it, too." She added that directing something she’s written herself one day would make her very excited.
Emma Watson ANGELA WEISS / AFP
Why Did Emma Watson Take a Break From Acting?
Watson decided to step away from acting to focus on her own happiness and interests. "I wasn’t very happy, to be honest," she shared with the Financial Times in April 2023. "I think I felt a bit caged." The hardest part for her was having to go out and promote something she didn’t have much control over. "Standing in front of a film and having every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your point of view?’" she explained. "It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I wasn’t involved in the process."
Watson continued: "They held me accountable in a way that I started to find very frustrating, because I didn’t have a voice, I didn’t have a say." She began to realize she only wanted to be at the forefront of things where, if someone criticized her, she could say without hating herself, "Yes, I made a mistake, it was my decision, I should have done better."
Emma Watson Teased a New Project
The Beauty and the Beast actress hinted at something exciting in the works in September 2025. She didn’t give away any specific details about the project, though. "I’ve been working really hard," she told Hollywood Authentic. "I’m working on… actually, I’m not going to say what, because then people ask, ‘Well, when is it going to happen? What’s going on with this?’" So, she simply shared, "I’m working on something I’ve never done before."
She described the process as feeling "a bit like a person in the dark, stumbling, searching for the boundaries of something and hoping." Watson laughed, adding, "It sounds like I’m trying to find the light switch. But it’s okay. That’s the process. That’s the process of creating things, isn’t it?" Watson also revealed that she’s thought about doing more work behind the camera. "Yes, I think I’d consider everything," she noted. She stressed that the most important thing, the foundation of your life, is your home, friends, and family. "I think I worked so hard for so long that my life, in a way, hit rock bottom," she confessed. "What crumbled was the part that was me and my life."
So, she had to build some foundations. "Good foundations for anything else to grow from," she explained. "Because if you don’t have that, a kind of mania arises; a kind of panic where you go from one project to the next, almost terrified of the void between them."
Emma Watson Misses Acting
When Hollywood Authentic asked if she missed acting, Watson admitted that the thrill of being in front of the camera is a feeling she still longs for. "That I miss deeply," she acknowledged.
On the other hand, Watson confessed that being a movie star comes with many limitations. "But I don’t miss the pressure," she said. "I forgot it was a huge amount of pressure." She recalled doing a small play just with friends. "I thought, ‘My goodness, how stressful!’" she exclaimed. "And that wasn’t even for a real audience or anything like that. I don’t miss that."